Vacation - Checking out The Villages, FL (again)

This will be a longer post.

We are on vacation (planned before the layoff) in The Villages, Florida, which we are checking out as a possible retirement home.

We went down to The Villages last year in late August/early September and found it appealing as a possible retirement home.  We wanted to experience it a bit more before committing.  We had planned to spend a month there in April, but my first grandchild came along and we skipped it.  The week of July 4th might not be the week that most people think about heading to Florida, but we wanted to experience the place in the "heat of the summer".  Boy did we succeed in that! 

You can see from these two weather charts that we have about an hour or so after sunrise where we can walk or exercise outside (but with high humidity) and it starts to get pleasant again in the evening.  (I'm generally OK when the "RealFeel" temps are in the low to mid 90s or below.

This time we decided to drive down to Florida.  We wanted to get an idea of what the trip would entail for visiting grandchildren in NJ.  We broke it down into two days for heading down... taking the DelMarVa peninsula down and crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

We spent a night in Norfolk, VA and then a day-long drive to Savannah, GA, before reaching The Villages on Saturday.  

It was a weird vacation.  Essentially all of our activity took place first thing in the morning or last thing at night.  We did do some house hunting during the day - coming close a couple of times to making an offer.  

Walking along a walking path which goes along Marsh Bend Trail (the main road in Marsh Bend).

First night at Brownwood Paddock... right after a T-storm.

We found a really nice 2.5 mi walking trail around the Hogeye preserve.

And also an elevated but shorter (0.33 mi) nature trail at the Fenny rec center.

The paths in and around the Fenny rec center have these wonderful old trees with spanish moss.

We did an additional sunrise walk at the Hogeye preserve trail.

And an occasional evening at fancier restaurants.  Wednesday evening we ate at Prima at Brownwood square (note the souped up golf cars).

Several of the rec centers also have the outdoor style of fitness equipment. 

And we spent a little time Wednesday evening at Edna's On the Green listening to a guitarist/singer and enjoying some well-earned junk food.

On Thursday morning we had gone to tour one of Cindy’s (our Villages Real Estate agent) homes and found it to be so close to perfect.  It was a “Winslow C” model with an enclosed Lanai that seemed to have space for everything we wanted to take to The Villages, but (there’s always a but) it was about 500 feet from overhead power lines and 450 feet from the Florida Turnpike.

So on my walk on Friday morning, I was at the Hogeye Preserve next door and took a db reading… in the mid-60s, the turnpike was the same loudness as a bar with lots of people talking.  So for now we decided to pass on that particular home.

I will say that on Friday (and Saturday) mornings, the humidity had climbed to 99% right after sunrise and I finished both of those walks totally beat.

Friday afternoon we went to the Sawgrass Sales office to meet with Cindy again.  This time we were supposed to begin talking about building a new home.  Unfortunately, at the start of the meeting Cindy gave us this form below and wanted us to know that we would be expected to sign it at the start of the process.  It seems that FL had passed a law (which we were aware of) limiting certain foreign people from buying real estate in the State of FL.  The law’s wording (I looked it up) specifically states that it does not apply to “lawful permanent residents” and Vicky is a green card holder.  Still Cindy checked with her management and they stated that “a green card is not enough”.

So… we wrote her a letter later Friday afternoon asking for a lawyer from The Villages to weigh in on it.  We think it was just a management misunderstanding.  So we will see… the decision on wether or not to move to The Villages might have been made easier. 

With all that completed, we went to Brownwood Paddock Square for Friday evening, having dinner at City Fire and then watching the band for a while - even slow dancing briefly in the rain before hitting the golf car for a ride back to our house.

Saturday morning was one last walk at sunrise.  This is where I learned that I was going too late by waiting for sunrise before starting the walk.  I really should have started about 40 minutes before sunrise and would have avoided some of the heat.

We checked out mid-morning and then headed down to Tampa to have lunch with Vicky’s friend LeRan and her daughter, Niu Niu.  This visit has always been a highlight in my trip since first meeting them a decade ago.  Niu Niu (who also goes by Anastasia) is quite intelligent, having just graduated from HS and heading to University of Florida in Gainesville in the fall… for MATH!

After lunch, we continued down to Sarasota, FL to visit Ken and Susan (and Andrew) which included a fabulous dinner at Nokomo’s Sunset Hut (which lived up to its name).

There was a key reason to visit Ken and Susan.  They are one couple (the first so far) with whom we are going to share detailed knowledge of our retirement plan.  Joe (one of the YouTube retirement guys) really recommends having a few people who serve as your retirement "board"... people whom you can bounce your plan off of and will (lovingly) look for flaws.

So it felt a bit like my PhD defense.  I was "defending" a project I've been working on during evenings and weekends for quite some time.  In the end, I think I passed.  That evening Ken shared his work on their own plan.  

So... what's the decision?

Well, there isn't any... yet.

We both felt that the heat in Florida wasn't that bad.  Yes, it (and the humidity) is truly oppressive, but we can do things early in the AM and in the evening and even traveling around during the middle of the day (especially by golf car) isn't too bad.  (Golf cars don't overheat like regular autos do when out in the summer sun... so they are preferable to autos for short trips.)  Summary:  This trip did NOT rule out FL as a possible retirement destination.

We expect to talk a lot about this decision over the next few days.  I'll provide a summary later.

Alimony - There, I said it (negotiations)

 I've been told that I'm supposed to stop talking about alimony.  I've never really listened to that advice very well, and I don't intend to start now.

Yes, I had a prior marriage and it was a marriage where I provided income and she stayed home to raise the children.  When that marriage ended, she was "awarded" permanent (lifetime) alimony which has been garnished from my paychecks since the divorce.  

With no paychecks coming soon, and therefore nothing to garnish, we have begun negotiations on how to end this.  I wish I could say that the negotiations are going fairly, but they're not.  You see, I have a gun to my head.  Not being able to meet the alimony obligation means possible jail time, loss of passport and driver license.

Still, I have to resolve this so we go forward.  But it feels like she's taking advantage of us (Vicky and I) again, especially while the chips are down.